Samsung apologizes to cancer-stricken chip workers

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Samsung Electronics Co. has apologized to chip factory workers who suffered from leukemia and other cancers and is promising compensation.

Samsung vice chairman Kwon Oh-hyun said Wednesday that Samsung will compensate the workers and their families.

Kwon’s remarks come after an opposition party lawmaker, Sim Sang-jeung, urged the government and Samsung to apologize to the 243 semiconductor factory workers who developed rare cancers or died from them. The resolution proposed by Sim in April said 114 of them were former Samsung employees.

For the past few years, Samsung has resisted calls to apologize. The company also provided assistance to a government compensation agency in legal battles over the agency’s refusal to pay compensation to workers.